Nenad Vladusic and the return home of the lost HTT son

The first appearance of the favorites on the title Vienna State Champion 2018 powered by Hobby-Tennis-To…

The first appearance of the favourites for the title Vienna National Champion 2018 powered by Hobby Tennis Tour in the UTC La Ville took place on Wednesday afternoon in cloudy and cool weather conditions, and as expected, the WTV aces did not show any nakedness on their way to the round of 16. The trio “Vladusic, Huber, Feigl” only played 7 games at the beginning, only the top seeded defending champion had to go the full distance to defend himself against a really strong challenger. Christoph Lang won the TC Kalksburg-Vereinsderby for the first round against Mario Stino after 2:14 hours of play in three sets, and now has to deal with Russia’s former ATP No. 685 Alexander Sikanov. In the round of sixteen of the “Landes” and thus among the top 16 players, 7 HTT stars are still in the game. C.L reports from the UTC La Ville

5 men from the current Top 10 of Vienna’s regional ranking and a total of 10 players from the Top 20 of this “dubious ranking” can be admired at UTC La Ville these days when the national tennis champion of the federal capital is being sought. Yesterday’s third match day – which, contrary to the many weather forecasts, remained completely dry – saw the absolute capacity of this 1000 Euro event on the Altmannsdorf branch for the first time this week. The No. 4 Vienna and the No. 1 of the tournament Christoph Lang started at the Centercourt. The 26-year-old had to deal with his club colleague Mario Stino in round 1, and the 9-year younger opponent provided the favourite last year’s winner and defending champion with an intensive exchange of blows right from the start. Lang could rely on his service in the first heat, while Stino won the service twice, including in the last game for 6:3. In the second set, Stino made his first break to 6-5, before Lang returned to the tie-break with a re-break, where the young star played big and fixed the set equaliser 7-1. In the decision of this TC-Kalksburg meeting Lang played routine and class, quickly took a 4-0 lead before it became exciting again. The young star’s grandiose chase to catch up was unrewarded in the finish, and the defending champion remained in the tournament. 6:3, 6:7, 6:4 the naked numbers of a match at the centre court of UTC La Ville.

The match of the day at 6 pm at the centre court of UTC La Ville then brought the meeting with an old acquaintance, who is not that old when looking at the birth certificate. We are talking about Nenad Vladusic, currently Vienna’s No. 6, Austria’s No. 40 and ATP No. 1714. 23-year-old is now No. 2 at the Vienna Provincial Championships 2018 and the great star of an event with which Vladusic has more in common than just the colloquial “country”. Rather, it is the addition in the full tournament name that awakens wonderful memories in the 23-year-old, who is now highly acclaimed. We turn time back almost a decade into September 2008, when a 13-year-old boy with glasses on his nose and cap on his head turns the HTT world upside down in the HTT-US-Open. The then unknown milk-face stormed into the quarter-finals, and from then on inspired the competition with noble technology, playfulness and irrepressible fighting spirit. Nenad incredibly managed the balancing act at that time, to be highly regarded and megabeliebt with the fellow players, although he took the butter from their bread already at that time as a youngster.

Vladusic then spent three years at HTT, most recently in November 2011, where he was beaten in the final of the November HTT 500 tournament. Since then the career of the young star now playing at the Colony Club has skyrocketed. After his first attempts at the HTT tournament level, Vladusic is now reaching for the stars that all young hungry and strong tennis players in this country dream of. ATP points, ATP rankings and who knows………………! The present in this tournament week, however, is called the Vienna State Championships, and the first opponent on the way to Nenad’s first national championship title was on Wednesday evening from the highest HTT celebrity camp. No less than Philipp Schneider, former 2-time HTT-Tour-Finals-Champion was allowed to start against Vladusic, and in the end had to put the adventure Wiener Landesmeisterschaften ad acta early on with two games.

7 HTT stars made it to the round of 16 of the Vienna Provincial Championships in 2018, and with it 90 ranking list points for HTT entry list and ÖTV points. Dominik Jaros had a hard first set in the tie-break before he booked his ticket to the last 16 against Roman Arbeiter 7:6, 6:0. Josip Franijevic, Vienna’s No. 19 and the 70 on the HTT computer ranking list, chased Paul Werren, the local hero and one of the top talents of the German capital, surprisingly clearly off the pitch 6:0, 6:3, and now faces Nenad Vladusic, seeded No. 2, in the round of 16. Nicolas De Giacomo had a clear two-set victory against Lucky Loser Valentin Krenkel and the 3-time HTT Wimbledon winner Vladimir Vukicevic also entered the second round with a sovereign 6:3, 6:0 victory against the super talent Nico Mucic from the AZ Tennisclub.